Hotels and a possible convention center. An equestrian center with an indoor arena to support year-round rodeo. Amenities for rodeo athletes and their animals, and a Rodeo 101 school for high-school and college-age athletes.
Those are just a few of the ideas Cheyenne’s tourism and economic development leaders have now that the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association has made its move to Cheyenne, Wyoming, official.
The aim is to turn that move into a year-round rodeo economy, with Western culture at its heart.
An agreement making the PRCA’s move official was announced with little public fanfare Friday afternoon, but there’s been lots of excitement behind the scenes about what the agreement means for Cheyenne and the state.
The Hitching Post subdivision where the PRCA will be locating has 416 acres in all. It’s a huge amount of space to transform, and a great big field of dreams for one of America’s fastest growing sports.
“When I look at this project, I look at it as the opportunity to be what we call a destination-defining development,” Visit Cheyenne President and CEO Jim Walter told Cowboy State Daily. “It will be anchored by the PRCA headquarters and, more importantly, the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy.”
Building A Western Culture Magnet
Given that Cheyenne already has a handful of world-class museums to offer, Walter sees the Museum of the American Cowboy adding to that, creating a magnet for Western culture that can draw fans the same way “football fans go to Canton, Ohio, and baseball fans go to Cooperstown.”
Canton is considered the birthplace of professional football and has several museums and other exhibits celebrating the fact, while Cooperstown has the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the historic Doubleday Field.
Rodeo’s timing doesn’t hurt what Cheyenne is trying to do. Western culture, and rodeo in particular, have been taking off of late, amidst a popularity boom spurred on by media like the popular television series “Yellowstone,” which has people around the country buying into “cowboy core” fashion trends.
Where better to wear those new Western duds than a rodeo in Wyoming?
Cheyenne Frontier Days already generates an estimated $45 to $50 million in regional economic impact each year. But it’s a 10-day event that comes and goes.
With the PRCA coming to town, leaders see a chance to create a destination that taps into that economic power year-round, with a development expected to drive more than $250 million in new activity over the next decade.
“With Wyoming being the epicenter of rodeo, with the PRCA, Cheyenne Frontier Days, and the Wyoming State Fair in Cody, and the Sheridan WYO Rodeo — I mean, we’re right here in the crossroads of rodeo,” Walter said. “We’re going to be dead in the middle. That’s an exciting thing when I think about what the next 10 to 15 years in the community will look like.”
A Different Kind Of Business Park
Cheyenne LEADS has been leading the charge on ideas for the Hitching Post subdivision, which is something the nonprofit economic development corporation already specializes in.
“This is what Cheyenne LEADS has always done,” CEO Betsey Hale told Cowboy State Daily. “We build business parks, whether it’s the Cheyenne Business Parkway or the North Range Business Park.”
The Hitching Post won’t look anything like any of the other business parks Cheyenne LEADS has built.
“This will be a business park that’s really about lifestyle amenities,” she said. “It will really celebrate our Western heritage, the Western way of life and the sport of rodeo. … And it’ll be a place not just for tourists, but for our community.”
Everything is on the table right now, Hale added. This is the idea stage. Come one, come all, as long as it’s something that would fit the flavor of Western heritage.
“We want to have all of the attire — boots, hats, jeans, you name it,” Hale said. “There can be a sculpture garden. Potentially, there could be a bronze-casting facility, a foundry.
"Other types of museums might be there, or other types of outdoor activities … We want to honor the heritage of the sport of rodeo and celebrate the future of that.”
While the development is considered mixed-use, one thing that won’t be in the Hitching Post subdivision is any housing.
“We want to make sure that housing goes into the downtown,” Hale said. “We don’t want to have housing there.”
There will also be no casinos, no data centers, no wind, no solar and no fireworks stands, Hale added.
Those bans will be written into restrictive covenants, a clear signal that the development is a Western district, not just another business park.
“It’s an exciting location there at I-25 and I-80, a really iconic spot,” Hale said. “And the views are just incredible. It’s a beautiful piece of real estate.”
Packing Up Rodeo History
Hale said there will be a steering committee that will oversee architecture and design for the PRCA’s new facility in Cheyenne.
That body could begin meeting as soon as this week, and no later than the end of May.
PRCA Chief Marketing Officer Paul Woody said the target date for the new facility is still 2029.
He expects dirt will start moving next spring.
One of the big questions he’s been fielding from people about the move is whether all of the statues from Colorado will be coming to Wyoming.
PRCA has tons of history in Colorado, with nearly 50 years in its present location. It’s a lot to move.
“There’s a lot of massive artwork and bronzes and all the collections, and they will all make the journey,” Woody said. “We’re not going to leave anything behind. It’s all part of our history, and our intent is to transplant it to the best of experts’ ability.”
That includes the gigantic 27-foot-tall statue of Casey Tibbs.
“That’s our most iconic one,” he said. “And it’s housed out in the main parking lot of the Hall of Fame here.”
Woody indicated he expects to hire companies that specialize in moving bronze statues to accomplish moving the 20 to 30 statues that are part of the PRCA Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy. Consultants will also likely be hired to oversee moving everything else as well.
The collection contains thousands of special Western artifacts, including saddles, buckles, chaps, shirts, hats, boots, spurs and artwork — and all of it’s headed to Cheyenne, Wyoming.
That includes the oldest items from the 1890s, which are in the Hafley-Shelton collection, down to the teeny tiny seed beads that are also part of that collection.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
